LAREDO, Texas – A 51-year-old Mexican national and a legal permanent resident of the U.S. has been sentenced to prison for possessing with intent to distribute more than 40 kilograms of cocaine, United States Attorney José Angel Moreno announced today.

At a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Diana Saldaña held today, Jesus Guerrero, 51, a resident of Fort Worth, Texas, was sentenced to 168 months in federal prison to be followed by a five-year-term of supervised release for possessing with intent to distribute 44 kilograms of cocaine. Guerrero was convicted of the felony drug trafficking offense on June 2, 2011, after admitting that on March 23, 2011, he entered the United States from Mexico via the Colombia Solidarity Bridge driving his 2005 Ford vehicle containing a non-factory hidden compartment in the rear seat area which he knew concealed 44 kilogram size bundles of cocaine. Guerrero is also subject to deportation upon completion of his prison term.

According to the allegations in a criminal complaint filed in March 2011 following Guerrero’s arrest, in addition to the cocaine, Customs and Border Protection officers at the bridge found 1.26 kilograms of methamphetamine. Homeland Security Investigation agents continued the investigation following the discovery of the contraband and established Guerrero’s knowledge of the contraband in his vehicle by deciphering a communication code use by Guerrero. In deciding upon the prison term ultimately handed down, Judge Saldaña also considered the methamphetamine found by agents.Guerrero has been in federal custody without bond since his March 2011 arrest and will remain in custody pending transfer to a Bureau of Prisons facility to be designated in the near future.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jim Hepburn, D.J. Young and Roel Canales prosecuted the case.